--- On Fri, 12/17/10, Peter L Borst <[log in to unmask]> wrote:  Bee breeding, in my opinion, has been sorely misunderstood and grossly 
over-hyped. With supercedure rates at an all-time high, it makes little 
sense to buy fancy priced queens, except for breeder queens. I would buy
 locally in order to support local bee breeders, if for no other reason.

I would go along with this except for previous discussions concerning the very narrow gene pool which the American honey bee supposedly has.   I'm a novice when it comes to breeding queens, but do have basic knowledge as a biology major many, many years ago.  I would use queens from my own apiary as breeder queens, selecting for the traits I desire.  However, I would continue to import queens from distant locations which are advertised to also hold the traits I'm seeking.  These queens I would use as drone producers in an effort to expand the genetic gene pool within my apiary.   And in subsequent seasons I would again pull from the best colonies in my apiary for the subsequent year's breeder queens.  I'm learning the paperwork needed to adequately track my colonies, but feel that is an important part to improving my stock overall.

Mike in LA




      

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